Bob Ewell is a despicable character. He is ignorant and abusive. He reminds me of Mr. Crump in The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens. He believes he is right, and does not accept that he is not superior to everyone else.???

Bob Ewell could easily fit on a page from a William Faulkner novel. Like Anse Burden of As I Lay Dying, who contends that sweat will kill him, Bob Ewell refuses to work, instead drinking away his welfare check while Mayella and the other children must scavenge in the town garbage dump. Similarly, Anse Burden hoards the money that he has for himself while his children must get by as they can. When the mules which have been pulling his wife's casket drown in the flooded waters. Anse steals one son's money and sells another's son's prize horse for whom the son sweat at night working for the money. Absolutely unconscionable, Anse uses his children to serve his own means: to marry and buy new teeth. Likewise, Bob Ewell exhibits reprehensible behavior as he makes Mayella serve his physical needs in every way, then forces her to charge Tom Robinson, a Negro, in order to cover up his abuse and neglect, thus exploiting both Mayella and Tom.

Another character whose personality is much like that of Bob Ewell is Jeeter Lester of Erksine Caldwell's Tobacco Road. Much like Ewell and Burden, Jeeter Lester is abusive to his children--he has sexually abused the girls, so they move away as soon as possible. Lester is absolutely shiftless as is Bob Ewell. He refuses to leave his barren land and work in the city's factories as have the children, instead planning schemes that involve exploiting others just as Ewell exploits.

Another major characteristic of Bob Ewell is that he cares only about his own image and not about anyone else, his daughter included.

This isn't exactly a novel, but in The Crucible Danforth and Parris can be seen in this light. They care only about their personal reputations and the power of their respective institutions. They will allow others to be hurt just because it is to their own advantage.

How about Huck Finn's father, Pap, in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn? Like Bob Ewell, Pap is a low-life, the worst example of "white trash". He mistreats his son, just as Bob Ewell mistreats his children. Bob is the one, in fact, that actually beat up his daughter Mayella, who accuses Tom Robinson of raping him. Mayella's bruises have come from her father, not Tom.

In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Pap also beats Huck and mistreats him, so much so that Huck must escape from him. All of his life, Huck fears Pap, until Jim tells Huck that Pap is actually dead.

How about Huck Finn's father, Pap, in The Adventures of
Huckleberry Finn? Like Bob Ewell, Pap is a low-life, the worst
example of "white trash". He mistreats his son, just as Bob Ewell
mistreats his children. Bob is the one, in fact, that actually
beat up his daughter Mayella, who accuses Tom Robinson of raping
him. Mayella's bruises have come from her father, not Tom.

In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Pap also beats
Huck and mistreats him, so much so that Huck must escape from him.
All of his life, Huck fears Pap, until Jim tells Huck that Pap is
actually dead.

Read about this novel here on eNotes and see if you agree.

Thank you so much for your answer! It was really helpful :) Good
example!